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SEC Weekend Recap: Back to the BCS, bowls, and a late Heisman pitch

SEC Championship Football

Auburn running back Tre Mason (21) celebrates with team mates after the second half of the Southeastern Conference NCAA football championship game against the Missouri, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013, in Atlanta. Auburn won 59-42. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

One for the ages: In the year of offense in the SEC, what better way to end the season than the ultimate offensive shootout.

Here are some of the records broken in Auburn's 59-42 win over Missouri that, coupled with Michigan State's upset with Ohio State, send the Tigers to the BCS National Championship Game:

Auburn's 59 points was the most in an SEC title game, breaking its own record set in a 56-17 win over South Carolina in 2010. The 101 points were the most scored in an SEC championship game.

The 677 yards offense by Auburn was the most in Auburn history against an SEC opponent and set an SEC Championship Game record. The two teams combined for 1,201 yards, just under 100 yards shy of the SEC single-game record.

Auburn running back Tre Mason set the SEC title game record with 304 rushing yards on 46 carries, which is also a title game record. Mason broke Bo Jackson's Auburn record for all-purpose yards in a season. He has 2,137, breaking Bo Jackson's record of 1,859 yards set in 1985.

Cody Parkey's 52-yard field goal in the third quarter was the longest in an SEC title game and a career long for Parkey.

Heisman Pose: Mason struck a Heisman pose twice during the championship game, which was an interesting statement on the last weekend before Heisman ballots were due.

It would appear that Jameis Winston is probably the runaway winner after he had a big week, getting cleared of legal issues off the field in a rape case that sort of hovered over his candidacy, then playing well in helping lead FSU to the only unbeaten regular season in the country after a 45-7 win over Duke in the ACC championship game.

Most other candidates faltered late. Defending winner Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M struggled in back-to-back losses to finish the season. Alabama's A.J. McCarron lost his last game to Auburn, a crippling blow to a candidacy based on winning big games more than statistics. Ohio State's Braxton Miller and Northern Illinois' Jordan Lynch lost in conference championship games while Boston College's Andre Williams left his last regular season game injured with only 29 rushing yards on nine carries.

That seems to set a clear path for Winston and it also may open the door for Mason to get to New York as a finalist. A 300-yard rushing day on a big stage as many of the other candidates struggled may go a long way in getting Mason on ballots, even if he's not really a threat to Winston to win it.

For the record, this Heisman Trophy voter's ballot has been turned in, but I, like all voters, have been sworn to secrecy until Dec. 14.

BCS bound...but what if?: Winston and Florida State will no doubt take on Auburn for the BCS championship as the Seminoles will remain No. 1 after their win and Auburn, No. 3 entering the weekend, will move up to No. 2 following second-ranked Ohio State's loss to Michigan State.

Michigan State safety Isaiah Lewis holds the Big Ten trophy while celebrating after defeating Ohio State 34-24 in the Big Ten championship game Saturday. If we had a playoff this year, would the Spartans have made the cut? (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

That makes projecting the BCS title game easy. What would be fun is if we had a playoff this year. A four-team playoff, replacing the BCS system, begins next season.

If it started this year, Alabama would likely slide up from No. 4 to No. 3, meaning a likely rematch with Auburn in a semifinal game. The big question would be, who would be No. 4?

The next highest-ranked team to win its conference championship game was No. 7 Stanford (11-2), which beat Arizona State. But both No. 9 Baylor (11-1) and No. 10 Michigan State (12-1) finished with better records, also won their conferences, and, in Michigan State's case, finished with a better win (over Ohio State).

Would Stanford get jumped?

We'd have the reputation of three of the major conferences getting stacked up against one another as Stanford supporters would certainly be arguing that the Pac 12 was tougher than the Big 12 and Big 10 while supporters of the other leagues would be touting their leagues relative to the Pac-12.

In other words, it would be the same arguments we've been having with the BCS all along, just with a slightly different context.

Bowling: Bowl announcements are later today. Here's how I see them going for the SEC. And keep in mind, things got a bit more unpredictable over the weekend:

BCS National Championship Game: Florida State vs. Auburn: No brainer.

Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Oregon: Others have projected Oklahoma to take on the Tide, but I like the potential draw of the matchup many were anticipating for the national championship. OU is a good draw but Oregon is a great draw.

Capital One: South Carolina vs. Wisconsin: How does South Carolina get picked over Missouri? The Capital One rarely picks a championship game loser and bringing Steve Spurrier back to Florida is always a nice draw.

Cotton: Missouri vs. Oklahoma: I'm going against the grain with my Big 12 pick as many are choosing the Sooners to go to the Sugar Bowl and Oklahoma State here. South Carolina and Missouri are also interchangeable. Spurrier has expressed a desire to play in the Cotton, which usually favors Western Division teams. But with a 9-3 LSU team without injured starting quarterback Zach Mettenberger the best West team available, this might be a year for the Cotton to look East.

Outback: LSU vs. Iowa: With LSU possibly shut out of the Cotton, this is a good year for LSU to slip down to Tampa, which usually takes a team from the East. Taking an East team would mean dropping LSU back to the Chick-fil-A Bowl, which nobody wants. LSU has been to Atlanta too often lately and the Tigers' fan base's enthusiasm for that bowl waned last year. Going back there this year would not be good for either the game or LSU. So the Outback makes sense. Iowa and Nebraska are the likely opponents, but Nebraska seems like a great matchup vs. Texas in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in what would be a Big 12 reunion match. So look for Iowa here.

Chick-fil-A: Texas A&M vs. Miami: Clemson appears headed to a BCS Bowl thanks to the failure of any team from a non-automatic qualifier conference to get into the BCS this year. That knocks Clemson out of this game, meaning no Tajh Boyd vs. Johnny Manziel shootout. Still, it's a marquee name to go up against the Aggies.

Gator Bowl: Georgia vs. Michigan: This one seems pretty set in stone. Georgia's a great fit here and Michigan is a name opponent.

Music City: Ole Miss vs. Georgia Tech: Vanderbilt played in this one last year and it appears the bowl would rather take somebody different this year. So insert Ole Miss. The matchup gets hurt a little by Clemson's likely inclusion in the BCS and the change in the ACC's bowl pecking order.

Liberty: Mississippi State vs. Rice: So, if Vanderbilt were to go 10-2, would it slip all the way down to the BBVA Compass Bowl because no other bowl wants its modest fan base? That seems what's happening here. You could argue that Vandy, 8-4 with a win over Georgia, is a fit for the Gator Bowl and, at worst, the Music City Bowl. But there is buzz that the Commodores will not only be bypassed for those games, but also the Liberty, where 6-6 Mississippi State is the reported choice. This should by where Vandy lands, but it's sounding like that won't be the case.

BBVA Compass: Vanderbilt vs. Houston: So, the SEC's last choice in the bowl process is 8-4 with wins over Florida and has a better record than two teams ahead of it? Sounds like James Franklin needs to ramp up his search for that big-time job because his efforts in Nashville aren't getting enough respect.